Highland music and Gaelic language and culture at heart of Blas Festival 2024
Organisations and venues across the Highlands and Islands will join forces with the Blas Festival next month as the Gaelic culture and music festival celebrates its 20th anniversary with special collaborative events at its heart.
A number of Ross-shire venues will host events during the festival which organisers say has, since 2004, promoted 1300 events, employed 5100 musicians, attracted over 130,000 of an audience and generated at least £8m for the Highland economy.
The main aim of Blas is to celebrate Highland music, Gaelic language and culture.
Partnerships with organisations and venues including Eden Court Theatre in Inverness, Skye arts centre, Las Port Rìgh, Lochinver Hall, music charity Live Music Now Scotland, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Comunn na Gàidhlig and Ionad Thròndairnis will result in bringing some of Scotland’s top traditional musicians to audiences across the Highlands and Islands.
The Blas Festival runs from September 6 – 14.
BBC Radio 2 Folk award winner and piper at Christian Dior’s recent Scottish fashion show, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Gaelic vocal harmony group, Sian, who have been compared to the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and The Staves, and respected Gaelic poets and authors, including Angus Peter Campbell and Myles Campbell, will be taking to the stage, thanks to a variety of partnerships during the festival which showcases the abundance of Gaelic culture and musical talent.
Comunn na Gàidhlig chief executive, Donald MacNeill, said: “We welcome the opportunity to work with the Blas Festival to begin a series of events marking Comunn na Gàidhlig’s 40th anniversary. These will kick off with a concert in An Lanntair, Stornoway, on Friday 6th September featuring Kristine Kennedy, Ruairidh Cormack, Amy Mackay, Koren Pickering, Islands Ceilidh Band and Òigridh Taigh Dhonnchaidh. There will also be a family ceilidh in Borve in the Isle of Lewis the following night, Saturday, September 7, with music from Jane Hepburn Macmillan and band.”
Margaret Nicolson, chair of Ionad Thròndairnis, said: “We have collaborated with Blas a number of times over the past few years and the events the festival brings to our community augment those that we offer.
“This year, Gaelic writer Myles Campbell, who lives locally, will celebrate his 80th birthday with fellow writers and young people from the area while Blas will bring an excellent concert and cèilidh dance later in the evening. It’s an effective relationship for both parties in that collaborative events enable local audiences to experience a wider range of performances.”
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar will support Comunn na Gàidhlig’s celebrations in Lewis and an event featuring Jenna Cumming, Amy MacKay, Iain ‘Costello’ MacIver and others will celebrate Gaelic singer, Chrissie MacVicar’s 70th birthday in style at a cèilidh in the Leverburgh Community Hub. Myles Campbell, Gaelic poet and novelist, will celebrate his 80th birthday with the help of Niall O’Gallagher, Rody Gorman and young people from the community, in collaboration with Ionad Thròndairnis in Skye on September 13.
In Inverness, local band Cala, along with support from Black Isle sibling duo, Donald and Peigi Barker, will perform at Eden Court Theatre on September 7. Partnerships with Yellow Door Events and Las Port Rìgh, will bring Gaelic vocal harmony group, Sian, to Lochinver Hall on the 8th September and Portree on the 9th September before they team up with Fèis Spè for a performance in Newtonmore on 10th.
Music charity, Live Music Now Scotland, which works to make music accessible to everyone in Scotland, will collaborate with Blas to bring new folk trio, Megan MacDonald, Chloë Bryce & Calum McIlroy to Croy (Septmber 6) and Ballachulish (7th September); hailing from Lairg, Tain, and Aberdeenshire respectively, the trio has performed extensively across Scotland and beyond, appearing at internationally renowned events including Festival Interceltique de Lorient, National Celtic Festival of Australia, and Celtic Connections, where they won Battle of the Folk Bands in 2024.
On September 10, Eden Court Theatre will host a special evening of music and poetry with the Campbell family, featuring award-winning piper, Brìghde Chaimbeul, and her father, renowned poet, novelist, journalist, broadcaster and actor, Angus Peter Campbell.
Calum Alex Macmillan from Blas Festival organisers, Fèisean nan Gàidheal, said: “Special collaborative performances have always been an important aspect of Blas Festival, and this year, more than ever, as we celebrate 20 years of this Highland festival, we are proud of the partnerships we have established for this year’s programme.
“We are grateful to all our partners this year and are looking forward to working with them to bring high quality Gaelic music and culture to audiences throughout the Highlands and Islands.”
Other events taking place during Blas, which is organised by Fèisean nan Gàidheal in partnership with the Highland Council, include Julie Fowlis, Éamon Doorley, Zoë Conway & John McIntyre, in Plockton High School and Inverness Cathedral, with support from Charlie Grey and Joseph Peach.
Cèilidhs with the Glenfinnan Ceilidh Band, Andrew Macdonald Ceilidh Band and Robert Nairn’s Band, joined by some of today’s leading Gaelic singers including Ruairidh Gray, Emma Macleod, Màiri Callan, Iain Cormack, Darren Maclean and Alice Macmillan; and dynamic duo, piper Ross Ainslie and Tim Edey in Ardgour and Inverinate.
The full programme of events can be found at www.blas.scot along with details of how to purchase tickets.
